Two weeks have passed since Pitch had been detained. Since he didn't call Kathryn it was assumed he didn't get one despite having the right to it. There was zero contact from the government as well until several members of Black Eagle and My New Arkham's NexGen laboratory received subpoena from a federal court. Everyone called arrived, and the set up didn't look that different from television. There was a judge, a jury, a bailiff, a crowd. There were two tables with lawyers, one for the prosecution and one for the defense.
Kathryn as well as Ishwada and other Black Eagle soldiers couldn't help but notice that Pitch was not standing behind the defense table with the lawyer in restraints or otherwise as per what would be normal. The bailiff reads over the case. “We will now be hearing the case of People versus Pitch Black, with the honorable Judge Cook presiding. Due to the severity of the crimes issued against Mister Black and the potential threat he poses, it has been decided that he will not be allowed to appear in person. Due to his ability to absorb and enhance electrical energies he will also be denied access to any electronics while in holding.”
The bailiff continued. “As such the case will be handled solely by proxy through his defense lawyer. Due to Mister Black’s financial assets being frozen pending investigation he naturally can not pay for a lawyer and has been provided one by the government. We will now be starting with the opening statement of the prosecution.” The man stands and walks up. “Honestly, today I feel like the luckiest man alive. This has got to be, in my honest opinion, the most open and shut case I've ever had the pleasure to be assigned to.”
The man picked at his nails a bit before continuing. “Let's face it, the only reason we're even having a trial is because by the letter of the law the defense has the right to due process and a trial of his peers. The evidence is concrete, there is no possible defense the convicted could possibly have. At this point all they could do is argue for a reduction of sentence due to special circumstances. The prosecution has chosen not to extend a plea deal to the accused as we see no reason for the defense to plead anything other than guilty or no contest.”
The prosecution lawyer starts cleaning the nails on his other hand. “I end my opening statement.” He goes and sits down. The judge sighed. “The defense will now be allowed to speak. How does the defense plead?” The lawyer shuffles papers and stands up. “The defense has reviewed and examined all the evidence in this case, and on behalf of the defendant I will enter a plea of guilty, on all charges.” Kathryn stands up and slams her fist on the rail. “This is bullshit! There is no way Pitch would agree to pleading guilty to threatening national security and terrorism! This is obviously rigged!”
The judge slams his gavel hard three times. “Order in the court, any more outburst like that and I'll have you held in contempt.” Ishwada puts his hand on her shoulder and pressed down till she sat. She grumbled about them not even letting Pitch actually defend himself or speak on his own behalf. The judge then continued. “A plea of guilty does not simply end the trial, the evidence must still be publicly presented and witnesses must still be examined and cross examined in order to determine the intent and severity of these crimes in order to determine sentencing.”
Kathryn let out a sigh at this news. The judge then gestured to the prosecution. “You may call your first witness.” The man stood back up. “The prosecution will now call General Jiryu Ishwada to the stand.” Ishwada walks over to the stand and swears in. He is then provided with some papers. “These here are transcripts taken of recorded conversations on the secure line used by Black Eagle taken from their own archive. I'd like you to look at them and confirm accuracy for the court.”
Ishwada reads through the papers. “These… look to be correct. I do remember a few of these conversations.” The lawyer grabs the papers and waves them dramatically. “I'll have it known by the court that the witness has just confirmed the validity of these transcripts. Transcripts that include conversations where Mister Black confesses on multiple occasions to his crimes. One of these conversations even has the accused confessing to actively tormenting victims before killing them. Proving the crimes were premeditated and that the accused had nothing but malicious intentions.” Ishwada raised his voice. “You're twisting the context!”
The lawyer looked at Ishwada. “The prosecution will remind the witness that he is to answer questions when given and is not to speak out of turn.” The defense lawyer speaks up. “Objection, leading the witness.” The judge sighed. “Overruled, you'll have a chance at cross-examination to clarify context.” The prosecution continued. “I would like to ask, for the court, at what point did you learn of the nature of the accused?” Ishwada sighed. “Pitch confessed to me within the first year of our cooperation. He explained in detail how he hunted the worst criminals he could find. Because when he first changed he had little choice.”
The prosecution became genuinely curious. “Could you elaborate on that for the court General Ishwada?” Ishwada smiled slightly. “When Pitch first became a Cryptid, he entered a fugue state. During that state he fed on his first victim. It was discovered that at the time he needed to feed on humans to survive. Starving himself would result in a fugue state where he would feed at random. So his options were to choose his victim or let his autonomy be taken away, potentially permanently. So in order to continue existing and find out the how and why of his transformation.”
The prosecution lawyer hummed. “Just out of curiosity, how long was Pitch a Cryptid before you started to cooperate?” Ishwada shifted a bit. “About five years give or take. It's my understanding he was attempting to investigate on his own first as he was, like everyone else at the time, unaware of the existence of my organization.” The lawyer nodded. “So you were aware that the accused was killing and eating humans during the time of your cooperation, as well as his victims prior, and his various criminal activities and did nothing about it?”
Ishwada hummed. “I was facing an existential threat, of monsters who unlike Pitch killed without thought or remorse. His cooperation over the years reduced deaths in both civilians and my own members. There are many in my crew who owed him their lives since long before the Phobos incident. At first it started as working with a lesser evil, it eventually developed into a mutually beneficial relationship with the death of criminals in New Arkham being considered as acceptable losses. I will take the time to remind the court that without the efforts of Pitch Black, we wouldn't even be here to have this trial.”
The prosecution lawyer grumbled. “That's conjecture, it's entirely possible we would have been able to beat the entity known as Malice without the help of Pitch.” Ishwada let out a grunt. “Yes, it's possible, but not without a loss of life that would have been unacceptable. We didn't have the technology or time to create it. It would have taken us days of not weeks to-” The lawyer put his hand up. “I'll ask that the court disregard most of this witness's statement as it's clear he's putting his own feelings and bias into his testimony.”
The defense stands. “I object on the grounds that said testimony, although not in response to a question, was within the comment issued by the prosecution.” The judge raised an eyebrow. “Objection sustained. But from now on witnesses will try to keep responses to direct questioning.” Kathryn let out a breath she had been holding. “At least the defense seems to be doing his job somewhat.” She whispered. The prosecution lawyer continued. “Were you the only member of Black Eagle who was aware of Pitch's true nature? If not, I'd like you to give me a rough timeline of who and when other people learned.”
Ishwada shuffled in his chair. “Current head scientist of New Arkham’s NexGen laboratory, Kathryn Smith-Holden, was the first to know of Pitch's nature. After I was told Pitch maintained a human disguise and acted mostly within the abilities of a human for as long as possible. Eventually more members and the Director himself knew about his true form. By the time of the incursion, there wasn't a single person in the organization who hadn't been briefed on Pitch.” The lawyer raised an eyebrow. “So you're saying Black Eagle up to its highest official was knowing and complicit in Pitch's crimes?”
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Ishwada sighed. “No, that is not at all what I said. There were definitely people that disagreed and disliked Pitch being allowed to roam free and act within the organization, including Director Hawkes at one point. However, over time, most people agreed it was better to have him working for us than sitting in a cell. Especially considering Pitch continued to adapt and evolve until he eventually no longer needed to eat people and could live off more moral substance. He was a valuable asset and our best defense against threats we lacked the equipment or manpower to overcome.”
The prosecution lawyer hummed. “So you're saying that over time the Black Eagle Director and several key staff simply considered any deaths caused by the willing actions of the accused were simply deemed as acceptable losses in the face of a larger threat?” Ishwada sighed. “The reluctant actions, I wouldn't say he was exactly willing. Even though his victims were mostly rapists, drug dealers, and other such things; every death haunted him. Especially considering Early on he learned by haunting a victim for a few days beforehand resulted in him having more time between meals.”
The lawyer blinked. “Wait… you're saying the accused switched from murder, to the legally worse crime of premeditated murder, in order to buy himself more days between murders?” Ishwada nodded. “Yes. He made a choice to break a worse crime in hopes that the overall number of victims would be reduced. He was doing his best to reduce his own negative impact from the very beginning.” The lawyer shuffles a bit. “I… have no further questions for this witness.” He sits. The defense adjusted his papers. “I feel no need to cross examine this witness, the prosecution seemed to make an effective enough case for me.”
Ishwada was allowed to step down and Kathryn was called up. She was asked several questions about her knowledge of Pitch's form and duet as well as the test she ran on him and the documentation of the changes he's undergone since becoming a Cryptid. After she was done Director Hawkes was called up and asked several questions including if he had a safety in place for if Pitch went rouge and what that plan was. Over the course of several days multiple people were called up. Black Eagle soldiers, civilians who Pitch saved, witnesses to cases he worked on.
Over time it felt less like a murder trial and more like a discovery of character. Finally after all the evidence was shown and all the witnesses examined the prosecution was asked to make a closing statement. “People of the court, we have heard a lot of statements. Statements that have turned this trial about serious crimes into a character trial. Circumstances, a history of feats of heroism. But let's not forget the letter of the law here. There has been no defense or argument against the crimes themselves. I firmly believe that no one is above the law.”
He paused for a moment. “Regardless of the positive contributions made by the accused, he should still be held accountable for his crimes even if the circumstances were abnormal. At the end of the day he still ended over four hundred confirmed lives. Even if you discounted those already registered as dead or the cases of self defense, that's still four hundred lives he extinguished. Them being criminals doesn't absolve him of that. I feel that despite the circumstances he should still pay for what he did. Because what he did was rob those people of life and the chance of redemption.”
The man closes his statement and sits, letting the defense make his closing statement. “Your honor, jury, people of the court. At no point have I ever tried to claim the accused didn't commit the crimes. At no point did I argue against him paying for those crimes. I simply wish for you to consider the extreme circumstances my client was under. He was presented with nothing but bad options and did his best given his unusual situation. I'm not asking my client to be found not guilty, but that he be shown leniency in regards to his situation and contributions to not just our people, but the world.”
With closing statements made, the jury went to deliberate. It took three days for them to be ready to give a verdict, something Kathryn and Ishwada took to be a good sign. One person from the jury stood up to speak. “First off, let us start with the charges of threats to National Security and terrorism. We the jury have not seen enough evidence to these crimes and find the charge of threats to be vague at best. As such, in the matter of these charges, we the jury find the defendant not guilty.”
Kathryn almost felt like cheering, but she knew it wasn't over and the person from the jury continued. “As for all other charges, by the letter of the law we the jury see no other choice but to see the defendant as guilty under the letter of the law. However, we think that the less serious charges be dropped due to the extreme circumstances and only the murders should be considered in sentencing. We ask that clemency be shown in the final sentence issued to the defendant in this case.”
The judge nods. “I see. Special circumstances have indeed played a major role in this case. I hereby find the defendant guilty to multiple counts of murder. However, I'll be issuing the minimum possible sentence for those murders. Could someone fetch me a calculator?” The bailiff hands him a simple solar powered calculator. The judge types into it. “This results in a sentence of ten thousand years with parole in two thousand five hundred years.” The judge bangs the gavel to solidify the sentence, followed by a mixture of murmurs from the crowd. The judge bangs the gavel again. “Court dismissed.”
Kathryn, Ishwada, Anderson, Hammer, and Fae all had to force their way through the crowd of people and news reporters outside to get to their vehicles. They all met back up at Pitch's house where Kasa was waiting. “Oh Fae~ Despite the circumstances I'm happy to see you~” Jasa said in a flirtatious voice. Fae blushed and looked away. Kathryn knitted an eyebrow. “How do you two- that's not important right now. What do we do now? I highly doubt President Marrow is going to give Pitch a pardon and declare him a national hero considering everything we know about him.”
Ishwada grumbled. “I mean even if we said anything about the truth, at this point we'd just sound like conspiracy nut jobs. Might as well wear tinfoil hats. I mean without solid evidence who would believe that the President who passed a Cryptid detection device on national television is not only a Cryptid but is a two hundred years old shape shifter who eats babies to stay young?” Anderson sighed. “It doesn't help that he actually had children with actual birth certificates. Even if he ate said kids and stole those identities the paper trail would be legitimate.”
Kathryn groaned. “Can't the Doppelganger council do something about him? He's breaking one of their key rules by having one persona benefit from the actions of another.” Fae let out a laugh. “What exactly do you expect them to do? He's the President of the United States.” Kathryn crossed her arms. “I don't know, testify to knowledge that he's in fact a Doppelganger Incubus hybrid? Even if they can't prove his real age I'm sure Doppelgangers have some sort of census to keep track of members somehow. I mean how else are they supposed to know when one of them breaks the rules if they can't identify someone regardless of shape?”
Ishwada hummed. “Kathryn has a point. We can't just sit back and let Marrow win. Not when we know he's some eugenics nut who's trying to make the perfect Cryptid and achieve the next stage of evolution or whatever crazy nonsense he was ranting to Fae and Pitch about.” Fae nodded. “I believe his wording was that he wanted Doppelgangers to leave the shadows of humanity and take their rightful place as the new peak of society as well as evolve then beyond what they are to increase the gap between humans and the in his words superior Cryptid citizens.”
There are collective groans from the group. Kasa slowly put her finger up while raising her hand. “I know I'm not exactly in the loop on things but… I think that the judge made a mistake. He said the minimum possible sentence was ten thousand years, this is based on the minimum sentence for murder being twenty five multiplied by four hundred. But in actuality the minimum possible sentence would be to give Pitch multiple congruent life sentences. Because it would actually matter how many different life sentences he'd have if all are served simultaneously.”
Anderson tilted his head. “Thst would drop the sentence to sixty years with parole being available within fifteen. … Is that grounds for an appeal? Can we really go back to argue the sentencing itself?” Ishwada shrugged. “The earliest we could go back to court in a year.” Hammer turned in the news where there was an interview with President Merrow. Being asked if he'd pardon Pitch and label him a national hero. “No.” He said firmly. “Even if I wanted to, I doubt he'd even want that. The defense of the case made it clear even they felt Pitch should be held accountable.”
The interviewer then pointed out the same thing Kasa did. The president let out a nervous chuckle and adjusted his collar. “Well I suppose if Pitch was to argue for a different amount of time served he can file an appeal next year. I'm not a judge and it's not my job or place to decide the fate of criminals. My former company may own a subsidiary that runs prisons but I never had a direct hand in that.” The interviewer then turns to questions about the identification laws and if he knew ahead of time about the threat of Phobos.
“Well I know a paper was sent, but sometimes something can hit my desk and it could be months before I read it. I didn't have a direct hand in NexGen so I would not have received reports about the incursion signs as that would have been handled by the CEO of the subsidiary company and not me directly. The laws were put in place in the interest of public safety. Although I admit they are not perfect, I'd rather my citizens feel safe. Human and Cryptid alike.”
The interview closes up with Kathryn seething a bit. “Such bullshit. He keeps covering his own ass at every opportunity. I can't believe he's actually getting away with it while Pitch sits for at the absolute minimum fifteen years after literally saving the world. That's assuming we win an appeal. He should be getting a medal, not jail time.” Ishwada puts a hand on her shoulder softly. “We're still a team, we'll get through this. Together. The fight isn't over. Just the opposite. No, the fight has only just begun.” Kathryn nods and takes on a look of determination. “You're right. We haven't lost yet. We can't lose hope now.”
